New Pokemon in Galar
by OnePirateWolf96
Summary: Part 8 of series Flaming Heart. New Pokémon are now allowed to be brought to Galar. Raihan and Kabu have some thoughts about the new Pokémon, and they just have a relaxing time together. Also, we find out just a little bit more about Kabu. Also includes some people spreading stupid rumours in the newspaper.


**New Pokémon are now allowed to be brought to Galar. Raihan and Kabu have some thoughts about the new Pokémon, and they just have a relaxing time together. Also, we find out just a little bit more about Kabu. Also includes some people spreading stupid rumours in the newspaper. **

**This one takes place the day after the Valentine's Day fic, which is why Raihan hasn't read or really found out about the new Pokémon yet. I was going to put this up earlier, but I got busy with writing Fire Emblem. I was so excited to write Pokémon again, I wrote this fic in less than a day!**

**Also, there might be a few little things in this that may seem a bit sudden, but that's because there's going to be two or three chapters that take place between Facing the World and the Valentine's day fic. I was going to have them published in the right order, but Valentine's day was here sooner than I thought! They'll be the next ones up!**

**Enjoy, and let me know what you think!**

New Pokémon in Galar

It's a peaceful morning. Raihan and Kabu are in Kabu's living room, sitting on the carpeted floor on front of the tv. Raihan's back is leaning against Arcanine, contently settled behind him. Ninetales is laying on the couch, observing them with her gleaming red eyes.

The rest of their Pokémon are either still sleeping or outside in the backyard, soaking up the morning sunlight. Including Centiskorch and the Sizzlipede, to Raihan's relief. They've all been fed and are happy and content, even if Raihan's ones are a bit sleepy. They still haven't gotten used to these early mornings, even after Raihan's been dating Kabu for over two months.

Kabu is sitting between Raihan's legs, leaning back against his chest while reading the newspaper. His glasses are slipping down his nose and Raihan is resisting the urge to push them up for him. He does it himself soon, anyway, with a small, irritated noise.

Raihan is just happy he didn't put too much clothes on when he got up, or he'd be suffocating from the heat, sitting between the fiery-hot gym leader and his fire-type mass of fur and heat he calls a Pokémon.

Raihan's hand is comfortably around Kabu's waist, occasionally going up to play with his hair, still damp from his morning shower. In his other hand he has the tv remote and he's currently flipping channels, trying to find something interesting to watch.

He's trying very hard not to look down at Kabu too much, since the man is once again wearing nothing but one of Raihan's old t-shirts that's way too big for him. Putting that pale neck and shoulders on full display, with the bite marks and hickeys Raihan left on him last night right there. It gives him a very satisfactory feeling, looking at them, but it also really makes him want to sink his teeth into it, if only to hear those lovely noises Kabu makes whenever he does that.

But Kabu has asked for them to spend a nice, relaxing morning together. Nothing else, since he's still a bit sore from last night. So that's what they're going to do. So he tries to focus his attention on the tv, flipping through the channels a bit more. He knows there really isn't anything good on this early in the morning, but he can try. Commercials, commercials, some children's cartoon, commercials...

He finally settles for some channel currently playing some kind of Unovan nature documentary. Something about a desert and a resort at said desert. Sounds a bit weird, but he's not really paying much attention to it, anyway. He yawns, stretches a bit to put away the remote and settles back down. It's a little past 7am, and they've just had breakfast, but he still feels like he could fall asleep any moment. He hasn't even checked his Rotom phone yet today.

"Anything interesting in the news?" he asks Kabu, just in case there's something interesting he's missing out on.

"Hmmm..." Kabu thinks for a moment, tapping his fingers against Raihan's leg. "Well, there's this whole thing with new Pokémon being allowed in Galar, for one." He turns his head to look at Raihan. "Have you read it yet? It's quite interesting."

"No," Raihan says, remembers seeing some headline about it, thinking to read it later and forgetting. "I was going to, but I forgot. What's it all about, anyway?" He might as well get the information now, when he can discuss it with Kabu. New Pokémon sounds pretty interesting. Maybe some new dragon-types?

"Well, it's not very many Pokémon, mainly the Alolan starters and the Kantonian starters." He pushes his glasses up again and flips through the paper for a bit until he finds the pages that talk about it.

"Guess Leon won't be the only one with a Charizard soon," he points out as he skims through the article over Kabu's shoulder. There's a lot of text and a few pictures of said starters. Only the Kantonian ones, though. Apparently there wasn't enough space for all of them.

"I suppose so," Kabu agrees with him about the Charizard thing. "With Leon having a Charizard, it's a very popular Pokémon."

"Mmmm, too bad it's not a dragon type," Raihan thinks out loud. "What are the Alolan starts like, anyway? I don't think I've ever seen them."

As though it's been listening in, which it probably has, Raihan's Rotom flies to his hand, already pulling up pictures and information about said Pokémon.

"These Alolan starters are kind of cute," he has to admit. The grass one looks like a small ball of fluff, the water one looks very playful and happy, while the fire one reminds him of Kabu's Centiskorch with those glaring eyes. He wonders if it would also bite him if he met one of them.

"You thinking about getting a Litten?" he asks Kabu, thinking it would fit with his other Pokémon pretty well. So he's a bit surprised when the older man shakes his head.

"No, not right now at least," Kabu answers, looking thoughtfully at the paper. "Maybe at some point, but right now I have my hands full with what I currently have." He turns around enough to pull Raihan down for a quick kiss and pets Arcanine a bit before turning back to the newspaper.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm included in that?" Raihan asks, half serious and half joking. "Is there anything else interesting there?" He asks as he looks at the paper again. He really should just read the thing himself, shouldn't he? He's at least going to have to do some reading up on the new Pokémon, so he'll know what to expect from them if they ever challenge his gym.

"Other regional variants of Pokémon already native to Galar," Kabu reads from the paper. "That's going to be interesting."

"So, like, Kantonian Meowth? And others?" Raihan clarifies, not too familiar with Pokémon from other regions. He's only lived in Galar and with the strict laws about foreign Pokémon he's never really had to worry about them. He couldn't bring them in, and they couldn't be found in the country. The only ones he was a bit familiar with were some dragon types, as he'd wanted to know what kinds there are in the world.

"Yes," Kabu confirms his thoughts. "And other Pokémon like Kantonian Ponyta and Rapidash, Alolan Vulpix and Hoennese Zigzagoon, as well as some others. No dragon types, I'm afraid."

"That's okay," Raihan waves it off easily. "I already have a great team." And he does, he really does. Even if they're not all dragon types- He loves his team and they're amazing Pokémon, but it would have been pretty nice to try raising a new Pokémon, too. Oh, well.

"Are you planning on getting any new Pokémon at all, now that there's some new options?" He knows Kabu said he's not getting a Litten, but maybe something else? "Maybe a Rapidash or something?"

"I already have one of those, actually," Kabu tells him, turning around to face him with a tiny smirk.

"What? You do?" Raihan immediately straightens up and glances around the house, as if expecting a Rapidash to be hiding in a corner somewhere. "Where?"

"She's not here, Raihan," Kabu sounds very amused at his surprise and when he looks down, he sees the man is indeed grinning in amusement. "She's in Hoenn," he clarifies.

"Huh," Raihan just says. He's never really thought about it, but it makes sense Kabu had other Pokémon in Hoenn than the ones he brought with him to Galar. "What's she doing there? Couldn't you have her brought over?" He hopes he doesn't sound too harsh or anything, but the look Kabu gives him doesn't really reveal what he thinks.

"My sister is taking care of her, and has for the past few years," Kabu explains. "And no, I'm not bringing her over. She's perfectly happy in Hoenn. Besides, she's too old to battle anymore, anyway. She'd get bored just laying around."

"Sounds like a pretty great Pokémon," Raihan comments. Then he recalls something Kabu said, that doesn't really make sense without some kind of explanation. "Wait, your sister has been taking care of you Rapidash for a few years? Where was she before that? Because you have lived in Galar a lot longer than a few years, and I'm pretty sure you never had a Rapidash here."

"Oh, that," Kabu almost sounds surprised, like he hadn't really been thinking when he said that. And also a bit sad?

Raihan wraps both his arms around the man and pulls him close to himself, resting his chin on Kabu's shoulder. He sees Kabu's eyes have a bit of a faraway look in them, and his mouth is turns into a small frown.

"Hey," Raihan murmurs quietly. "You okay?" Which is a bit of a stupid question, because clearly Kabu is at least a bit less than fine. Kabu shakes his head slightly, either as a no, or to clear his thoughts.

"Yes, I'm alright," he replies Raihan's question. "Sorry." He leans back against Raihan, taking one of his hands in his own and lacing their fingers together. Raihan squeezes Kabu a bit in comfort.

"Anyway, I probably should have told you earlier, at least some of this," Kabu continues, now answering Raihan's first question. "Rapidash was originally my father's Pokémon. After he died a few years ago, she became my Pokémon."

He goes quiet again and Raihan just feels bad for making him bring up his dead father. He could kick himself for how stupid he is sometimes.

"Sorry," he offers quietly, pressing an apologetic kiss to the side of Kabu's head. Ninetales, reading Kabu's mood, jumps down from the couch and lies down on the floor with her head in his lap. He untangles one of his hands from Raihan's to stroke her soft fur.

"Don't worry," Kabu reassures Raihan, with a small, comforting smile. "It's been a few years." He takes a deep breath, then another, before he's ready to continue.

"Anyway, I couldn't take Rapidash with me to Galar, so my sister offered to take care of her." Soon he's smiling, looking much happier than just a few moments ago. "They're doing great, too. My sister went and got a couple of Ponyta, and she's giving riding lessons to children."

"Sounds pretty nice," Raihan says, much calmer now that Kabu's in a better mood again.

One of his hands joins Kabu's one petting Ninetales. She licks his hand, happy with the attention, and probably happy he made Kabu feel better. Even if he's the one who made him sad in the first place.

Arcanine barks, apparently feeling left out, as he shoves his head under Raihan's arm, demanding petting. Raihan laughs at his antics, and scratches him behind the ears, getting a satisfied noise and a wagging tail thumping against him in response.

"It is," Kabu suddenly says out of nowhere, after a few minutes of silence. "It's nice," he repeats when it takes Raihan a few moments to realise what he's talking about.

"Did you have to leave many of your Pokémon in Hoenn when you moved here?" Raihan asks once the thought suddenly appears in his head. The fact that Rapidash can't be the only Pokémon Kabu wasn't able to take to Galar. That he had to leave in Hoenn in his sister's care, probably.

"Half my team," Kabu admits. "The only ones I could bring were Ninetales, Arcanine and Torkoal."

"Oh," is all Raihan manages. He couldn't imagine leaving his Pokémon behind, even in the care of his family. It must have been really tough for Kabu. It makes him better understand how much Kabu had to leave behind when he moved to Galar to become a gym leader. Not only his family and friends, but also his Pokémon. "If at some point, in the future, it'll be allowed to bring more foreign Pokémon to Galar, would you bring them over?"

"Maybe," Kabu muses quietly. "It would be nice to see them again." And there's that small, nostalgic smile again. The one that manages to look both somewhat happy and somewhat sad at the same time.

"Or we could just visit them in Hoenn," Raihan suggests. "Like you promised that one time. Remember, when your sister called that one time and chewed you out for not telling her we're dating? You promised her you would visit, and you promised me we would visit at some point."

"Hmmm... We'll see." It's not really the answer Raihan was hoping for, but Kabu isn't really one who takes time off. But he did promise, and Kabu isn't the kind of person who breaks his promises. He'll just have to wait a little longer. Maybe remind Kabu once in a while to make sure he doesn't forget.

But he can kind of tell Kabu's done talking about this, at least for now, so they go back to comfortable silence, with Raihan trying to read the newspaper from over Kabu's shoulder. It's pretty much what they've talked about already, until he gets toward the end of the article, which he hasn't even looked at yet. He reads it. Then reads it again. Then –

"What's with this part here!?" he asks louder than necessary, reaching all the way over Kabu and jabs his finger at the text. "Certain Legendary Pokémon are also allowed to be brought to Galar? Is that really necessary? Do they really think people actually have Legendary Pokémon? Yes, I know there are two people in Galar with Legendary Pokémon," he adds at Kabu's raised eyebrow and pointed look, "but it's not like it's common, right? It's not like everyone is carrying a Legendary Pokémon in their back pocket, just waiting to be able to bring it to Galar? Right?"

"It is a bit interesting they added that part," Kabu agrees with him. "There is probably some reason for it, though I don't know what. Like you said, Legendary Pokémon are not exactly common."

"Well, if people have Legendary Pokémon, it's going to be interesting to see them. If they don't there's nothing to worry about." It's a pretty simple way of thinking, but it seems pretty useless to worry and overthink something that might never amount to anything.

"Is there anything else interesting in that paper, or is it all about the new Pokémon?" Raihan asks, having already stopped paying attention to the thing. He's just grabbing his Rotom phone to finally check his feed and see what's up on the internet, when Kabu does find something else in the newspaper.

"Well... They're still making speculations about us," he says, pointing to a small column toward the end of the paper. It seems to be the part where people are allowed to send in their own short texts, thought and questions.

"Really, still?" It's been a while since they got together, and most of the media had lost interest in them, unless it was something special. "It's been over two months, you'd think they'd have calmed down by now." He still leans back over Kabu to get a better look at the text.

"What's it about this time? Am I having an affair again, or something?" It had been the most used fake rumours people had spread for the past month. As soon as they noticed him talking to an even remotely attractive person, they'd immediately jumped to conclusions. The funny part was, they'd never really paid attention to that before he had gotten together with Kabu.

"No," Kabu responds calmly, like he's taking about the weather. Like these people's opinions were nothing more than minor annoyances to be brushed aside. "Apparently you're only with me because I'm rich and can buy you lots of nice things."

"You mean you're not going to buy me nice things?" Raihan pouts, putting on his best puppy-eyes as he meets Kabu's eyes. Then bursts into laughter as Kabu playfully elbows him in the ribs, also laughing.

"I don't think you need me to buy you anything, considering you make more money than I do," Kabu manages to point out between laughing.

"Maybe I should be getting you nice things, then," Raihan suggests playfully. It's actually not that bad of an idea. He would just love to spoil Kabu sometimes with a really nice gift. Something he'll really like. He'll need to find out when Kabu's birthday is...

"As long as you don't cook again," Kabu jokingly tells him, reaching to pull him into another kiss. A long, nice kiss... Soon, any thoughts about anything are all but forgotten. Soon they're both again comfortably sitting on the floor, Kabu reading and Raihan finally checking up on his social media.

Just another day.


End file.
